COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Mount St. Mary's plays Bryant in NEC quarterfinal game

Wednesday

Mar 6, 2013 at 9:00 AM

It's the rubber game between Mount St. Mary's and Bryant.

Lee Goodwin

It's the rubber game between Mount St. Mary's and Bryant.The Mountaineers and Bulldogs, which split two games during the regular season, will square off in a loser-goes-home scenario at 7 p.m. today in the quarterfinals of the NEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, R.I.The Mount (16-13, 11-7 NEC), playing under the leadership of first-year head coach Jamion Christian — who played his college basketball at Mount St. Mary's from 2001-2004 and was a three-year captain of the team — is the fifth seed in the conference tournament. The lowest remaining seed will play at the highest remaining seed in the semifinals on March 9. Top seed Robert Morris hosts St. Francis Brooklyn, No. 2 Wagner hosts Central Connecticut State and No. 3 LIU Brooklyn hosts Quinnipiac.Bryant (19-10, 12-6 NEC) beat Mount St. Mary's, 79-78, in overtime on Jan. 17. The Mount handed the Bulldogs an 84-70 loss on Feb. 14 at Knott Arena in Emmitsburg to knock Bryant out of first place in the conference.In the Mountaineers' win, junior guard Sam Prescott ignited the Mount with a career-high 44 points, including 10 of 14 three-point field goals. It was the most points by a Mount player since the school moved to NCAA Division I in 1988-89.Mount St. Mary's has inched forward week by week after starting off 2-6 in the conference. Since then, the Mountaineers have won eight of nine games, including wins in the final seven games. The Mount ended the regular season with a 103-82 win at Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, March 2, marking the first time since the Mount reached triple digits since a 103-86 victory over LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 14, 1995.Junior point guard Julian Norfleet became the 44th player in Mount history to reach 1,000 career points with his 15-point effort against FDU. Norfleet is now 43rd all-time at Mount St. Mary's with 1,007 points in 90 career games.Freshman guard Shivaughn Wiggins paced the Mount with a career-high 28 points against FDU, hitting 13-of-15 at the foul line.Wiggins, who was named the NEC's Rookie of the Year on Tuesday, is averaging 9.6 points, 2.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game for the Mount this year, shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 47.7 percent from three-point range.The Mount is 10-4 since Wiggins was inserted into the starting lineup.The Mountaineers improved by five wins in NEC play and secured the program's highest seed since 2010. The Mount missed the tournament last season. Bryant has turned its fortunes around drastically after finishing 2-28 a year ago. The Bulldogs have posted a 17-win improvement. It comes in Bryant's first year of NEC and NCAA postseason eligibility following a five-year reclassification process.

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